Daily Scripture Reading Leviticus 14:28-47
Stewart was a steady, reliable mechanic, with a loyal customer base. However, despite having steady work, he never had much extra money. When he was done paying for his food and housing costs, he had very little left over. He was grateful he could provide for his family, but at church, he always felt inadequate in his giving.
The owner of the local feed store always put large sums of money in the offering plate. A banker in the church funded entire mission trips. Others in the congregation were known for generously providing large donations to meet various needs. Meanwhile, Stewart was certain God looked down on him because he could never afford to make a big splash when someone had a financial need.
It is common for people to think that those who give more earn more rewards in heaven. However, the Mosaic Law was clear that healed lepers were expected to make sacrifices according to their ability when they went to the tabernacle to be cleansed of their uncleanness. This is a picture of the New Testament teaching that God rewards generosity proportionally.
The 14th chapter of Leviticus explains the process for cleansing a leper. On the eighth day, the former leper needed to bring two male lambs and a yearling ewe lamb, along with flour and oil as a sacrifice. However, if the leper was poor, he was permitted to bring one male lamb and two turtledoves or two pigeons instead. After slaughtering the animals, the priest was to put some of the blood on the healed leper and sprinkle the oil before Yahweh.
Lev. 14:28 The priest shall then put some of the oil that is in his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the guilt offering.
Lev. 14:29 Moreover, the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s palm he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed, to make atonement on his behalf before Yahweh.
Lev. 14:30 He shall then offer one of the turtledoves or young pigeons, which are within his means.
Notice the phrase “which are within his means”. Leprosy was unclean, and the unclean person needed to bring sacrifices to make atonement. However, Yahweh accommodated the fact that some people could afford more than others.
Lev. 14:31 He shall offer what he can afford, the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. So the priest shall make atonement before Yahweh on behalf of the one to be cleansed.
In this verse we see the phrase “what he can afford”. Again, the person making atonement after being a leper was only required to bring what he could afford. The wealthy had to sacrifice more than the poor.
Lev. 14:32 This is the law for him in whom there is an infection of leprosy, whose means are limited for his cleansing.”
Take note of the phrase “whose means are limited”. Being poor did not prevent a person from being cleansed from his leprosy.
When Jesus observed a widow placing a trifling sum of money in the temple treasury, He declared that she gave more than the wealthy donors because she gave everything she had. Meanwhile, the rich people were donating out of their excess (see Mark 12:41-44).
Several decades later, the Apostle Paul praised the churches in Macedonia for giving according to their ability, and even beyond their ability (see 2 Corinthians 8:3). Paul assured the Corinthians that a man’s generosity is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he doesn’t have (see 2 Corinthians 8:12).
Just as poverty did not prohibit a leper from being cleansed, so too poverty today does not prevent a Christian from being generous. Even a trivial sum of money can earn recognition from God as being an act of generosity.
Lev. 14:33 ¶ Yahweh further spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:
Lev. 14:34 ¶ “When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you for a possession, and I put a mark of leprosy on a house in the land of your possession,
Don’t miss the words “I put a mark”. The pronoun “I” refers to Yahweh. This emphasizes the sovereignty of Yahweh. Yahweh is in control of everything.
Lev. 14:35 then the one who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, ‘Something like a mark of leprosy has become visible to me in the house.’
Lev. 14:36 The priest shall then command that they empty the house before the priest goes in to look at the mark, so that everything in the house need not become unclean; and afterward the priest shall go in to look at the house.
Lev. 14:37 So he shall look at the mark, and if the mark on the walls of the house has greenish or reddish depressions and appears deeper than the surface of the wall,
Lev. 14:38 then the priest shall come out of the house, to the doorway, and put the house under isolation for seven days.
Lev. 14:39 And the priest shall return on the seventh day and look again. If the mark has indeed spread in the walls of the house,
Lev. 14:40 then the priest shall command them to tear out the stones with the mark in them and throw them away at an unclean place outside the city.
Lev. 14:41 And he shall have the house scraped all around inside, and they shall pour out the plaster that they scrape off at an unclean place outside the city.
Lev. 14:42 Then they shall take other stones and replace those stones, and he shall take other plaster and replaster the house.
Leprosy was unclean and needed to be removed, even if that meant tearing stones out of the house wall and replacing them with new stones.
Lev. 14:43 ¶ “If, however, the mark breaks out again in the house after he has torn out the stones and scraped the house, and after it has been replastered,
Lev. 14:44 then the priest shall come in and look again. If he sees that the mark has indeed spread in the house, it is a leprous malignancy in the house; it is unclean.
Lev. 14:45 He shall therefore tear down the house, its stones and its timbers and all the plaster of the house, and he shall take them outside the city to an unclean place.
Look at the words “tear down”. If leprosy could not be removed from a house, then the house needed to be destroyed.
Lev. 14:46 Moreover, whoever goes into the house during the time that he has put it under isolation becomes unclean until evening.
Lev. 14:47 Likewise, whoever lies down in the house shall wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes.
It is common for people to think that those who give more earn more rewards in heaven. However, the Mosaic Law was clear that healed lepers were expected to make sacrifices according to their ability when they went to the tabernacle to be cleansed of their uncleanness. We see similar teaching in the New Testament. God rewards generosity according to what people have, not according to what they don’t have.
Do you give in proportion to your ability?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”